ColdGoldLazarus
Contrary Quester, Spreadsheet Queen, Pink Flamingo
- Location
- Challenger Deep
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Ah, thanks! Didn't expect it to be a Fubuki, but I can work with this.
Ah, thanks! Didn't expect it to be a Fubuki, but I can work with this.
And then, ostensibly to promote peace, she states that any battleship may stand in for her.And then we find out that Genma Saotome promised his son to the Battleship Princess in exchange for a fish dinner....
Cross-posted from SB.
x=x=x
5 June 1942
Objective AF
The Pacific
Nine in the morning. Thousands of miles away from home. Deep within enemy waters.
Imperial Japanese Navy fleet carrier Hiryuu drifted through crystal waters. Columns of oily smoke continued to pour of her hull. Her forward flight deck had collapsed downwards into her scorched hangar and water flooded through the gaping hole that Makigumo's torpedo had rent open upon her starboard side.
She was the last Japanese warship in the operational area. Her sister and her friends lay at the bottom of the sea alongside their brave opponents. Their defeated comrades were slinking back to Japan in shame.
The last of her crew were piling into her remaining escape boats and ship's cutter. Those souls had been deep within her internals, too busy fighting battle damage and running machinery until it was almost too late.
Hiryuu did not begrudge their rush to abandon her. She had only lasted this long thanks to them. And Tamon-Maru had long given the order to abandon ship.
'Tamon-Maru...'
Her admiral lay unmoving in his quarters. He was accompanied by his captain. Rear Admiral Tamon Yamaguchi had embraced death like a samurai. He had shared a last meal of hardtack and water with her captain, Tomeo Kaku, as their men evacuated their doomed ship.
"Let us enjoy the beauty of the moon," her admiral had said to her captain.
"How bright it shines," was the reply of his kindred spirit.
"It must be in its twenty-first day," he agreed, completing the death poem.
Afterwards they went to Tomonaga's quarters, where they put their service pistols to their heads and pulled the triggers together.
Blood washes away shame. Death is light as a feather.
The same held true for Hiryuu. She had paid her dues in blood and fire and steel. She was spent.
She had nothing left to give. Her remaining Reisen fighters, Kanbaku dive bombers, and Kankou torpedo planes had been consumed by the fire. Her aircrew was scattered across the waters, the famed Tomonaga Squadron obliterated by American Wildcats, Lieutenant Tomonaga himself having gone off on a one-way strike.
She was sated. She had sunk two enemy carriers in her counterattack, achieving part of her mission and attaining a measure of revenge for her lost sister and friends.
She had already said her farewells. To Tamon-Maru and Kaku. To Tomonaga as he had set off on a final flight. To her mother, whose recon plane had earlier come upon her roasting hull and would take her final words back to Houshou.
Now Hiryuu patiently waited for the end, her turn to sink beneath the waves, her inevitable reunion with everyone.
'Tamon-Maru, Captain Kaku, Lieutenant Tomonaga... Akagi, Kaga... Souryuu... I'll see you soon...'
Her peace was shaken as the feel of the water changed to something different, something distinct and familiar. Hiryuu had not noticed it due to her pain and resignation, but she had long left the open sea and was now entering much shallow waters. She had somehow made it to the safety of land.
'Where am I?'
She instantly recognized the two small islands from prewar photos and reconnaissance imagery. They were the reason as to why she and her sisters had fought here. They were the only place within theoretical reach of her unpowered and unmanned hull.
'Why didn't they sunk me on my way here? How did they fail to spot me? What's going to happen to me?'
She could not argue with the proof of her miraculous survival. Her keel came to rest upon the thick bed of ancient coral that crowned the actual island. Her burnt-out prow overlooked white sand, green soul, and a battle-damaged airfield that bristled with cannons and wreckage and gaping US Marines.
All this while, her ravaged hull rattled like a child's toy, Hiryuu weeping and laughing over this bitter irony.
The IJN had lost the battle for this island. But one of their elements had managed to land at their objective after all.
'Tamon-Maru... Souryuu… I reached Midway...'
x=x=x
DRAGON
x=x=x
It's another whimsical alternate history from yours truly, conceived after Eternity and that story about the Japanese capturing USS Hornet (CV-8).
Instead of sinking like in OTL, the wrecked hull of Hiryuu makes it to Midway. There she was recovered by the Americans, who were desperate enough for hulls to tow her back to the mainland and repair her.
USS Dragon will have to live with her former enemies, fight her former friends, and do her best to survive the Greater East Asia War. (And by that the former Hiryuu means the Pacific Theater of World War II.)
Yeah, I like to bully ships and characters that I like.
Considering how thoroughly trashed Hiryuu was, simply fast-tracking the completion of USS Essex would've been cheaper. Besides, Dragon doesn't sound like a name the USN would've given a new carrier-naming her after a famous battle or famous USN ship from the pre-ACW era is much more in line with USN naval conventions.
Poor Hiryuu's been thoroughly thrashed. I'm pretty sure her engines would be replaced by something American-built. Same goes for, well, just about everything else.
Considering how thoroughly trashed Hiryuu was, simply fast-tracking the completion of USS Essex would've been cheaper. Besides, Dragon doesn't sound like a name the USN would've given a new carrier-naming her after a famous battle or famous USN ship from the pre-ACW era is much more in line with USN naval conventions.
Considering how thoroughly trashed Hiryuu was, simply fast-tracking the completion of USS Essex would've been cheaper. Besides, Dragon doesn't sound like a name the USN would've given a new carrier-naming her after a famous battle or famous USN ship from the pre-ACW era is much more in line with USN naval conventions.
Cross-posted from SB.
x=x=x
5 June 1942
Objective AF
The Pacific
Nine in the morning. Thousands of miles away from home. Deep within enemy waters.
Imperial Japanese Navy fleet carrier Hiryuu drifted through crystal waters. Columns of oily smoke continued to pour of her hull. Her forward flight deck had collapsed downwards into her scorched hangar and water flooded through the gaping hole that Makigumo's torpedo had rent open upon her starboard side.
She was the last Japanese warship in the operational area. Her sister and her friends lay at the bottom of the sea alongside their brave opponents. Their defeated comrades were slinking back to Japan in shame.
The last of her crew were piling into her remaining escape boats and ship's cutter. Those souls had been deep within her internals, too busy fighting battle damage and running machinery until it was almost too late.
Hiryuu did not begrudge their rush to abandon her. She had only lasted this long thanks to them. And Tamon-Maru had long given the order to abandon ship.
'Tamon-Maru...'
Her admiral lay unmoving in his quarters. He was accompanied by his captain. Rear Admiral Tamon Yamaguchi had embraced death like a samurai. He had shared a last meal of hardtack and water with her captain, Tomeo Kaku, as their men evacuated their doomed ship.
"Let us enjoy the beauty of the moon," her admiral had said to her captain.
"How bright it shines," was the reply of his kindred spirit.
"It must be in its twenty-first day," he agreed, completing the death poem.
Afterwards they went to Tomonaga's quarters, where they put their service pistols to their heads and pulled the triggers together.
Blood washes away shame. Death is light as a feather.
The same held true for Hiryuu. She had paid her dues in blood and fire and steel. She was spent.
She had nothing left to give. Her remaining Reisen fighters, Kanbaku dive bombers, and Kankou torpedo planes had been consumed by the fire. Her aircrew was scattered across the waters, the famed Tomonaga Squadron obliterated by American Wildcats, Lieutenant Tomonaga himself having gone off on a one-way strike.
She was sated. She had sunk two enemy carriers in her counterattack, achieving part of her mission and attaining a measure of revenge for her lost sister and friends.
She had already said her farewells. To Tamon-Maru and Kaku. To Tomonaga as he had set off on a final flight. To her mother, whose recon plane had earlier come upon her roasting hull and would take her final words back to Houshou.
Now Hiryuu patiently waited for the end, her turn to sink beneath the waves, her inevitable reunion with everyone.
'Tamon-Maru, Captain Kaku, Lieutenant Tomonaga... Akagi, Kaga... Souryuu... I'll see you soon...'
Her peace was shaken as the feel of the water changed to something different, something distinct and familiar. Hiryuu had not noticed it due to her pain and resignation, but she had long left the open sea and was now entering much shallow waters. She had somehow made it to the safety of land.
'Where am I?'
She instantly recognized the two small islands from prewar photos and reconnaissance imagery. They were the reason as to why she and her sisters had fought here. They were the only place within theoretical reach of her unpowered and unmanned hull.
'Why didn't they sunk me on my way here? How did they fail to spot me? What's going to happen to me?'
She could not argue with the proof of her miraculous survival. Her keel came to rest upon the thick bed of ancient coral that crowned the actual island. Her burnt-out prow overlooked white sand, green soul, and a battle-damaged airfield that bristled with cannons and wreckage and gaping US Marines.
All this while, her ravaged hull rattled like a child's toy, Hiryuu weeping and laughing over this bitter irony.
The IJN had lost the battle for this island. But one of their elements had managed to land at their objective after all.
'Tamon-Maru... Souryuu… I reached Midway...'
x=x=x
DRAGON
x=x=x
It's another whimsical alternate history from yours truly, conceived after Eternity and that story about the Japanese capturing USS Hornet (CV-8).
Instead of sinking like in OTL, the wrecked hull of Hiryuu makes it to Midway. There she was recovered by the Americans, who were desperate enough for hulls to tow her back to the mainland and repair her.
USS Dragon will have to live with her former enemies, fight her former friends, and do her best to survive the Greater East Asia War. (And by that the former Hiryuu means the Pacific Theater of World War II.)
Yeah, I like to bully ships and characters that I like.
An again you do have Prinz Eugen.There's precedent for it, the USN captured the French frigate Insurgente and simply translated her name to USS Insurgent. Since most vessels captured and pressed into USN service were British, there was never really any need to translate names. Naming her Dragon, to me, strikes a nice balance between keeping her name to show her off as a prize of war, and "Americanizing" her.
Poor Hiryuu's been thoroughly thrashed. I'm pretty sure her engines would be replaced by something American-built. Same goes for, well, just about everything else.
"Ah, great, you're alive. Now you can help us put your bote back together!"Possibly but not certain. as the engines were probably the last intact part of her. While heat and smoke had driven the engineering crew out, the engine spaces were not directly hit. And frankly in this very hypothetical scenario, having the engines usable is a plus if we don't just decide to toss her on the junk heap or spend even longer rebuilding her. We're already rebuilding everything from the lower hangar deck up and repairing the torpedo hole forward where Makigumo made to scuttle her. It helps that the USN picked up Hiryuu's chief engineer and about 35 other survivors (Mostly engineering staff) several days later.
Actually, would they actually send her out or would they use her as a "Training Carrier"?
"Ah, great, you're alive. Now you can help us put your bote back together!"
This is probably her ultimate fate, yeah, assuming they don't just scrap her. (A complete reengining would be almost more expensive then new build.) Her protection and structural integrity are such that she'd end up getting Ranger'd.
No matter what happens, Hiryuu will be a fertile field from which tears may be farmed. I approve.
And remember that, since the Japanese have done the same to Hornet in this timeline, this could be seen as "revenge" of a sort.
Considering how thoroughly trashed Hiryuu was, simply fast-tracking the completion of USS Essex would've been cheaper.
Besides, Dragon doesn't sound like a name the USN would've given a new carrier-naming her after a famous battle or famous USN ship from the pre-ACW era is much more in line with USN naval conventions.
USS Tokyo Bay has a nice ring to it though.
Yes it's a Grey Hunter LP reference.
Obviously they use the new carrier as a CVE given that at the very least she can do something in that role while not diverting more resources than necessary to making her seaworthy.
Is that Kurita's fleet I see over the horizon?